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De-Naimification Complete!! I Feel Cleansed...or do I?

Ragaman said:
What an odd thread, you never find anyone announcing they are leaving any other brand, I find the whole Naim thing quite strange.
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Because most of the members here came from the Naim forum when they blocked discussions of 3rd party products like power supplies and Teddy Pardo etc.
 
Perhaps to get into higher end NAIM kit has taken a while saving and deciding so when you leave that brand after all the work put in to get there perhaps you de 'leave' as such?
 
I think for me it is a question of value for money. with the elevated prices of Naim higher end kit (252/300 and 500 series), it is always up for questioning with quite a few people.

some naim owners gave up on 252/SC/300 for a teddy pardo amp and are very happy with their choice.

seems also the Chord Hugo redefined expectations.
 
andyzeg said:
In truth...I sort of have to agree with you! Somehow Naim has become part of the British Audiophile psyche and seems to be intertwined with talk of upgrades and indeed sound quality. It's just a thing that many of us seem to discuss because it is in effect such a good brand that is entrenched in the British (mostly) Hifi mindset.

You're quite right, though, that it would also seem strange to discuss the disposal of Meridian, Cyrus or Mark Levinson in the same way as Naim...apart from which I couldn't even hope to spell or pronounce the appropriate adjective describing the ridding oneself of those particular brands - Lol!!!

And further to that...IMHO...I think many of us on this distinguished Forum are possibly a bit crazy! :D;):cool: ......I know I am!!!
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I think the way Naim is talked about with regards to 'moving on from' is due to the fact it was what most audiophiles lusted after when they started out. Naim were very dominant in the UK in the seventies and eighties and there was nothing like the choice there is now. (Look at any hifi magazines from the seventies and you'll see what i mean!) The Naim 'extra boxes' were a great and reasonably affordable way of upgrading especially due to the flourishing second hand market. The Naim sound became not quite 'entrenched' but the popular mainstream I guess.

About 10 to 15 years ago the new Naim (and Linn) prices seemed to shoot up. I guess at that point and perhaps because of the increasing choice people started to look elsewhere and listened to a lot more different brands - and different sounds. Certainly valve hifi became more popular and mainstream and I, like quite a few others, made the informed and carefully thought out decision to replace our proliferation of Naim boxes for less (not inexpensive) separate boxes.

For me the difference in sound and the improvement to my ears was inescapable when compared to my pretty expensive Naim stuff which I'd enjoyed for many years.

I don't feel the green lights calling me back, as I have nice big blue VU meter lights..... (And I still have a HDX!) :D
 
analogmusic said:
I'm not getting the references here, can you explain ?

Something to do with Julf and cables?
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I think you have to ask Ragaman, but it seems he has decided I am single-handedly responsible for any cable-related discussion or something. Personally I would prefer a discussion about audio instead of about people...
 
ah ok.... much of the Naim sound does come from the cables they use. Like NACA 5 for instance, and the grey interconnect...
 
analogmusic said:
ah ok.... much of the Naim sound does come from the cables they use. Like NACA 5 for instance, and the grey interconnect...
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Is that still the case? Naim used to be the special example of amps that were sensitive to the speaker wire capacitance (due to the fact that Naim omitted compensating circuitry).
 
Julf said:
Is that still the case? Naim used to be the special example of amps that were sensitive to the speaker wire capacitance (due to the fact that Naim omitted compensating circuitry).
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Much of the Naim sound sound does not come from the cables used, i have both here, naca5, the grey also, used with or without, they are very Naim sounding, this is only the older olive stuff at the bottom rung but the sound is quite distinctive when compared to Rega for example.

It's sort of hard to put your finger on, when i removed the cd3 recently for a rega Apollo, immediately there was better focus, improved definition, improved detail levels even, but the gut reaction was, this sounds slower somehow, the immediacy had gone awol, as though the sound has gone through a graphic equalizer to make it sound different, when returning to the cd3, the sound became far more real to my ears, warts 'n all, no filtering of the extremes, which is how i like it.

The same went for the Brio 3 compared to my Nait 3.
 
I used Kimber 8TC cables with my Naim for years. No issues at all. I'm a classical listener and I found the Kimbers were better suited. In comparison, the Nac cables appeared restricted and they squeezed the soundstage somewhat. Suitable for pop or rock but not all rounders. I thought they were fairly poor and felt their price was poor VFM. I still have some in the garage.
 
analogmusic said:
I think for me it is a question of value for money. with the elevated prices of Naim higher end kit (252/300 and 500 series), it is always up for questioning with quite a few people.

some naim owners gave up on 252/SC/300 for a teddy pardo amp and are very happy with their choice.

seems also the Chord Hugo redefined expectations.
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I will take a wild guess here ?
The many Taps Dave might be coming next ?
 
Jonn said:
Over the years I've been pleased that people move on from the Naim brand as it's meant that there has been a good range of s/h gear available that continues to hold its value,sounds good, is well built and can be serviced at reasonable cost, which is more than can be said for a lot of the so called esoteric gear that people get seduced by.

So hopefully announcements of this sort encourage more people to sell their Naim :)
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Me too I have built a reasonable Naim system through trade ins and the Used Market and continue to do so, so long may the exodus from Naim continue. As Naim was once a 'fashionable' choice for some it now seems non Naim is equally as fashionable. I think the huge interest that has happened with hifi over the past few years is fantastic whatever brand and long may it continue.
 
Natara said:
Me too I have built a reasonable Naim system through trade ins and the Used Market and continue to do so, so long may the exodus from Naim continue. As Naim was once a 'fashionable' choice for some it now seems non Naim is equally as fashionable. I think the huge interest that has happened with hifi over the past few years is fantastic whatever brand and long may it continue.
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I wouldn't use the posters on pfm as a guide to whether a particular hi-fi brand's "fashionable" or not. Naim are doing very nicely, and not just through Muso sales.
 
Yes Indeed Tony.

Even though I said I might look around a lot more if starting from zero, now that I have my Naim amps, I am not selling them, and am happy with them.

still expensive though....
 
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